my life, as i know it. how busy i get. how productive i can be. how laziness creeps in after being under pressure. how appreciative i am. how something makes me smile. how stopping to truly treasure a moment is rarely done, but should be more often.
my first few weeks of summer vacation have been heavenly. my blood pressure and heart rate have all returned to a respectable range and i can take pleasure in leisure activities that bring me joy. scrapbooking, movies, pool w/ tay, play dates with tay's buddies, watching tv, surfin' the net...it's all good.
so, as i said below, i have been busy getting ready. for what, i'm sure you're still wondering. for a trip to italy!!! and just so we're not confused, i'm talking about /it-ta-lee/, the one where the pope lives and olive oil is made, not italy (pronounced /it-lee/), texas. yeah, i learned of that one during some inservice training activity a few years ago. the instructor distributed papers with a bunch of pictures on them and you had to guess which texan city each picture represented (example, there was a picture of a garland of flowers for the city of garland). talk about "muy difficult" for my hawaiian transplanted ass and my limited knowledge of texan geography. julie can even confirm that with this tidbit: when a student tells me where they're from and i don't instantly recognize the name they've given, my usual follow-up question is: "is that in dallas?"
so back to italy-in-europe and my flying over there to check it out...i'm excited...my first european trip. mere and i leave on thursday and will tour rome and southern italy for almost 2 weeks. i've been running around dallas, plano and allen making sure to get appropriate clothes for touring cathedrals (was told i needed to have tops that covered my shoulders and very modest shorts). what, the pope is not wanting to see me in skanky tops? oh, ok. i certainly would not want to cause him any distress, so i guess i'll leave all that at home. (grandma, i'm just kidding...your granddaughter does not have skanky tops...i think).
in my travel preparations, taylor has developed an affection for northpark mall. she even referenced it when asking where her friends noah and ava lived. no joke. we had a playdate with them this morning and i was telling taylor that they had to drive a long way to come see us. she asked where they lived and i said in dallas. she replied, "by northpark mall?" laughing, i said, "actually, yeah...by northpark mall!". this was quite amazing (and i know due to luck), because she has absolutely no concept of where things are in a big city. but she offered the last place she was in dallas and as a daughter of a shopper, everything's relative to the mall, right?
*they're a breath of fresh air from the usual "sibling-playmate" during summer vacations
*they were *just* as enthusiastic as you about creating a dance routine to "the conga" by miami sound machine when you were kids
*they check up on you when you're so far away from home
*they email you to make sure you are aware of the latest news about your celebrity crush:
{long sigh} here's an article that i found *extremely* entertaining about his day in the bay area.
(yup pauline, i knew he had been in san francisco promoting armani underwear & unveiling his latest round of pictures. i had been wanting to blog about it but didn't have the chance yet. thanks for giving me a reason to do it sooner rather than later!!! love you!)
i know, i know...a crummy video, jonelle? well, i started a post this morning but it's in my "draft" file right now. been busy getting ready. i'll tell ya' for what later on. never mind getting distracted...you'll need all your concentration to thoroughly enjoy this video. i couldn't let the day pass without posting this SUPER cute sharpie commercial with my man. my favorite part is with the little girl. hmm, they needed an asian girl... why oh why did they not call me?
finally getting around to blogging about our oh-so-FABULOUS field trip to watch fc dallas against houston on may 28th. the kids were so excited! although we had quite a few soccer players among us, many of them had never been to an mls game before. as soon as we passed through security and made our way toward the stands, the kids' mouths dropped open instantly and then they grinned at each other. fortunately for us, we were sitting close to the field and in section 130, next to guardia roja's section. UNfortunately for us, houston's hardcore group was in 131, on the other side of us. as you'll see in the pictures, they were so hardcore, they were completely surrounded by the park's security guards as well as frisco police. most of them appeared to be completely wasted, several of them were half naked (shirtless) and flipping everyone off. from time to time they also chanted "f#&* you dallas". our AP (assistant principal) complained to the police right away. after the initial attraction of the group's enthusiasm, our 3rd graders weren't really paying close attention to them anymore (overstimulated), but our impressionable 5th graders knew what was going down. of course we educators used that as a teachable moment and pointed out how inappropriate it was and the consequences of doing things like that (the police began escorting them off the premises a few at a time). the houston fans also "hogged" the time by drumming and chanting the whole game! i felt bad for guardia roja and the inferno...never the less, i took the kids up to meet guardia roja during halftime. they were completely thrilled when the guys actually let them play their instruments and take pictures. it was a highlight of the field trip for many of them, so i have to sincerely thank guardia roja for being so accommodating and allowing my students to experience that!
i have to admit monica (my soccer bud/5th grade science teacher) and i noticed how difficult it was to be there at pizza hut park @ a game WITHOUT a beer. everywhere we looked we saw someone drinking a beer or trying to sell beer. it most definitely brought a certain "parchness" for alcohol to our awareness!!! at one point the guy holding a bin full of beer was trying to get past us in the aisle in the stands and tilted the bin TOWARD us, practically putting them in our hands. we painfully laughed about that one.
about the game...have to say that kenny cooper's goal was *sweet*! the kids loved seeing the fireworks and "goal" on the big screen. we were at the top lining up to get back on the bus when fcd scored a 2nd goal. although we didn't get to see it when it happened, we sprinted to the edge of the top seats so we could see the replay and celebrate with the rest of the fans. here's kenny's goal:
i had to call uncle steve on the way home to ask about the final half hour of the game since we had to leave early because it was a school night (he and my cousin jonathan joined us for the evening but stayed for the whole thing). uncle steve said houston scored another goal, so it ended up being tied up (2-2) at the final whistle.
as i watched the kids during different parts of the evening, i inconspicuously took notice of their expressions. it was truly priceless. you could tell they loved being there, soaked up the atmosphere and thus smiled so deeply you could see total joy in their eyes. most of them would have never experienced this had it not been for our field trip, and i felt intense happiness that i was there to share it with them.
finally i'll end with a conversation i had with one of my female students during the game. it was just before kenny scored his goal, so i'd say it was like 25-30 minutes into the game:
student: ms. d? me: yeah? student: {looking out onto the field} um, so like, when is the game gonna start? me: {turns to her, looking puzzled} sweetie, the game is happening *right now*. see those guys on the field? they're playing the game. student: {looking a little sheepish} Oooh. {then smiles} me: it's okay, honey. {pats her leg} just know we want the red people to win.
it became quite apparent that she was an *indoor* girl. :)
enjoy the pics!!! (oh, i blurred out my students' faces to protect their identities)
there's part of the houston group (i couldn't get them all in one shot). see the frisco policeman in yellow? yeah, he and the other cops drop the hammer on several of them!
and more security. they *totally* surrounded them. they kept talking on their radios too.
ouch.
after kenny cooper's goal
guardia roja was super cool to let the kids play their instruments!
one of the guys is a, are you ready?, KINDERGARTEN teacher (personally i think only *special* people can do that job). he was amazing, he went the extra mile to give us this truly festive picture!
the kids getting an unforgettable, hands-on experience
i've included some of the letters & pictures i had the kids write & draw while making thank you cards to our principal the day after the field trip. they turned out great! you'll get a real sense of how much they enjoyed themselves. click on the picture to enlarge it.
watchin' my boys tonight. ld's called up for the us national team, so he's not playing tonight. david's back in la (he was with the england national team for a little bit) and lookin' mighty f-i-n-e. :) we're @ the break, galaxy is up on colorado, 2-nil! woo-hoo! absolutely loved pires' boogie session after his goal! alan got involved in a kicking spat with erpen from colorado who started it all...both got red carded, so each team's a man down. overall, the boys are dominating the game. defenders, especially abel and sean, are doing an awesome job of coming up and rejecting colorado's drives...finally clicking together. abel's kickin' butt. {grinning}
so i'm continuing with my "blog to-dos"... :) here's tay's performance at her dance recital last friday. she definitely enjoyed being on stage and did a great job with the routine! enjoy!
wanted to post this yesterday but didn't have time. in case you were curious, click here to learn more about him.
*fun obama/jonelle fact #1: we both grew up in hawaii
*fun obama/jonelle fact #2: his 1st daughter and my daughter share the name malia! (tay's middle name)
*fun obama/jonelle fact #3: he went to punahou (private elementary & high school on oahu). this school has a kick-ass cross country team. (no, i was not a nerd) they were the ones to beat at the state meet every year and i know because i ran it against them while i was a freshman!
in his speech tuesday night after surpassing the 2,118 delegate mark, he gave a shout out to his g-ma back in hawaii and dedicated the night to her (first 3 minutes of the video). awww...
just discovered tonight that brian ching from the houston dynamos is from hawaii too! aww man, i *really* didn't like houston and now i have a reason to become vested one of their players!!! it was cool to see him in person while on our soccer game field trip last week. at the time i knew that he was a forward, he was one of their star players, he played for the national team and that i saw him in a commercial during one of the soccer games, but didn't know he was a "local boy". dammit! hawaiian loyalties will getcha!
check him out while filming the dick's sporting goods commercial (he's wearing an orange jersey):
play this song while you're reading my post, please:
summer. is. here.
yup, for all you non-educators out there, EOY means "end of year". eoy comes with a lot of crap teachers get beat down with: mass amounts of paperwork, classroom clean up, hyper behavior from students anticipating summer break, numerous intervention reports, conferences with other educators and/or parents about students' placement for the next year, summer school forms, celebratory field trips, committee meetings, class pizza parties, field day celebration, moving classrooms, mega filing, textbook inventories...the list just goes on and on. and...i finally made it. oh there were days that i was at school @ 7:30am and went NONSTOP until 11pm. oh, ok... {exhales and rolls eyes} i exaggerate. i did stop for like 1/2 hour to an hour for dinner, but for the rest of the time the energizer bunny had nothin' on me. needless to say, we all celebrated when the last kid left with music on the loud speakers and shrieks & hoots in the halls. we then carried the celebration over to happy hour @ texas roadhouse. many teachers released their stresses in their beverages, and boy did it taste good!!!
will get my other posts up soon! i've got video & pics to upload to my computer to share with you guys!
